Miss Hannah

My niece, Hannah, comes to my house after school Monday-Wednesday.... As you know already. Last week, we went out and took some photos of her. She is in 2nd grade this year. She is growing up way too fast.

What a beautiful girl with a great personality!

Meet Ronan

I was able to take my friend Kristin's pictures for her new little one, Ronan. He is 3 weeks old. His older brother, Logan, was there so I was able to get his pictures done too. Here are some that I took...

6 Weeks- Collyn

6 weeks have passed. WOW! Collyn is growing into a wonderful little boy. He has his own little personality now, and I just can't get enough of him. Here are some updates.

GROWTH: I have not weighed him for 2 weeks (Since 1 month old). I usually weigh him at my parents house, but I haven't done that for a while, so I don't know how much he weighs. He has a 2 month doctors appointment in a couple weeks so I will have his weight and height at his 2 month update!

EATING: I am still exclusively nursing. We attempted a little formula last week. Lyndon was watching him and he already drank what I had pumped and I wasn't home yet. He spit it all back up. He refuses formula, so it is completely up to me. He eats every 2-3 hours for about 15 minutes at a time, only one side each feeding. Sometimes I have to feed him on both sides, but rarely.

CLOTHING: 0-3 Month. He still fits into some Newborns.

DIAPERS: Size 1

SLEEP: It is not getting much better. There was one night he gave me a 6 hour stretch and I thought things were looking up, and the next night he was up 5 times. He usually goes to bed about 9 or 10, wakes up at 1, wakes up at 3, and wakes up at 6:30. He has been awake more lately during the day. He takes a good long nap during the morning from 10 AM to 1 PM. Then, sleeps again in the afternoon and will take an evening nap also. I swear all this kid does is sleep.... except at night. :)

DEVELOPMENT: He is SMILING!!!! YEAH! It makes me feel so good when I can talk to him and he will smile back at me. He is also cooing. He will now talk to his toys and when he eats he will sometimes makes noises.

ACTIVITIES: Collyn took a train ride with his cousins, he has spent his Friday evenings at football games for the high school. He went to the first week of dance with Momma. He went to a wedding for a girl Momma used to work with. He helped Momma do some photoshoots for people who needed pictures.

First Football Game 2012

Life in a small town... There isn't much to do, so people think. There aren't malls within minutes, or lots of restaurants to choose from... Entertainment isn't right at your finger tips.... But small towns have more charm to them that people don't realize.

Every week it seems like we are going to some sort of community event. In our town, the big thing to do on Friday night in the fall is to go to high school football games. Our football field is in our community park, not at the high school. We don't have a stadium, we have a few bleachers and a huge hill that everyone sits on (The same hill that everyone sleds down in the winter). Lots of people come. There are people tailgating at the top of the hill, cooking up hamburgers and hot dogs. People set up their chairs and blankets across the hill and cheer on the Wolverines as they run onto the field. The high school band plays the fight song and the national anthem while the cheerleaders do stunts and dances for the pregame show.

There is something magical about fall Friday nights.

The first home football game was last weekend. Alden was so excited to go. He ate popcorn and drank some soda (BIG TREAT). He ran around the hill with his cousins while we enjoyed the game.

It's so fun to go because you see so many people you... you know pretty much everyone... and you get to catch up.

Unfortunately, the Wolverines lost the game, but it was fun to cheer them on.

Train Ride

My sister, Susan, and her family were invited to ride a train from Weiser to Ontario which is about 20 miles away. Her husband had to work at the last minute, and she didn't want to go alone she invited Alden, Collyn, and I.

Alden is very interested in trains right now. We watch Thomas the Tank Engine and other train shows on Netflix. I woke Alden up from his nap early to go, which could have been a good thing or bad thing.

When we got to the train station in town, which is not a functioning train station, basically a historical monument of our town, Alden just stared at the train and said, "CHOO CHOO!!"

We got on the train and waited a few minutes for it to leave. Alden was in heaven! We rode to Ontario and back and the entire time Alden stared out the window in Awe and enjoyed every minute of it. Collyn slept through most of it and then nursed at the end of the ride.

Alden was pretty cranky afterward because I woke him up from his nap, but how could I pass up taking him on a train ride???

Back To School Bash 2012

Every year our church puts on a party for Back To School. They usually host it on a Saturday evening in the park, but this year they did it in the grassy area outside our church on a Sunday afternoon. There was a good turnout. They had a blow-up obstacle course, a bounce house, a dunk tank, classic cars, and bands playing on stage.

Alden had a wonderful time in the bounce house (If there wasn't too many kids bouncing) otherwise he would panic. He played different games and earned a couple suckers, he won a raffle prize and played volleyball with daddy. I was able to sit and relax while Collyn was passed around to different women in our church and I just listened to the music on stage. It was really relaxing.

It was such a fun time. A great way to end the summer.

1 Month- Collyn

We made it! We made it through the month!!! It's always a great feeling when you survive the first month with a newborn home. However, this first month with Collyn seemed to fly by. Alden's first month seemed like an eternity because we were learning so many new things with a new baby. Collyn just fell into our schedule.

Here are some updates on our little man. :)

GROWTH: Weight: 9 lbs 2 oz (This is measured by my parents scale at their house. So, give or take a few ounces.) Height: I have been so worried that he isn't gaining because when you breastfeed you aren't sure how much he truly is getting. When you bottlefeed you can see how many ounces he ate. But, I think with his weight gain he is getting plenty.

EATING: As I said above, I am still nursing. I have really enjoyed it this time and I'm glad I stuck with it. I just keep thinking how much money we are saving not buying formula. Collyn eats about every 2 hours, day and night for about 15 minutes at a time.

CLOTHING: Newborn. Still.

DIAPERS: Newborn. Still. We are moving to 1's when we go through our newborns.

SLEEP: Sleep isn't getting much better. Some nights he will give me 3 hours at a time but normally he wakes up every 2 hours to nurse. Needless to say, I am one tired Momma. He takes quite a few naps during the day and somedays Alden and him will nap at the same time, so I try to lay down with them and get about an hour of sleep in.

DEVELOPMENT: He is making more noises now, and not just cries. When he eats, he will make "Yummy" noises. I layed him on his play mat and he watched the toys above him. Alden helped out. He is moving his arms and legs like crazy and is focusing a lot better. He was laying on Lyndon's chest and lifted his head for a good 20 seconds before dropping it down.

ACTIVITIES: This week has been pretty calm. We mostly just went to grandparents houses to visit. We didn't do anything too exciting. Yesterday, he went to the park with Alden and I. We met my sister and her two kids there and Alden and Emma (Her middle child) played.

The next update on Little Collyn will be at 6 weeks old.